Do you have many friends?

[ChocolateTea]

Sitting here feeling Christmassy. Really fancy a day out, shopping, nattering, cinema. Happy to do these things alone, but actually made me realise, I don't have any female friends to suggest this to.

I have a partner. I have work colleagues I get on well with. I have a couple of close male friends. I have groups of old school mates I occasionally have lunch with. But flicking through my phone I realised, I don't actually have any girlfriends.

I walked away from a toxic group a few years ago, and guess I never replaced them. I had a couple of close friends in my 20s, but we grew apart. My closest friend for 10 years once kids and work etc happened in my early thirties, we drifted too.

So now I've made myself blue, thinking I want a nice day out but have no one to go with.

Anyone else just not have that close friend in their life?

I've come out shopping now BTW. So I'm not indoors or anything, I'm happy to have a wander and a coffee on my own. I know it takes a while to start changing my own behaviours, and to find people with common interests. But I'll try more.

Do you have a dog? Great ice breakers. Are you sporty? Join a running club, parkrun fab for meeting people?

I have got quite a few friends, some more distant but some I have a close relationship with, all very different personalities & backgrounds. I have always made friends very easily, from all walks of life. I am a very spiritual person and perhaps that’s why people are drawn to me.

Vicky I'm a big involvement with parkrun, and more than one sports team 🙂

I think putting stuff on facebook is a good idea, as long as you can deal with that sometimes you won't get any takers. I commute for work in a place quite far from where I live, so when I am here, I am here for a week at a time. I knew no-one when I started and when you come and go all the time, it is hard to build friendships naturally. So I started putting on facebook if anyone wanted to go to see a film/market/pub/whatever on a night. Got to know a lot of people better that way, and often I find the people who say yes, are not the people I would necessarily have asked first if I was doing it by direct contact.

Chocolate that's great re parkrun and sports teams, do you feel drawn to anyone in particular you could just suggest tea with after a run/match? Just casual as anything to start?

I thought there was an app for friends? I seem to remember having read about it somewhere... if not there is a big opportunity and money to be made!
I have about three close friends but two of them don’t live near me and one is in Australia!
I really think a friendship app would be a great idea.

www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/a24799641/best-friendship-apps/

www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/g27286691/apps-to-make-friends/

@Moomin8 I’m autistic and therefore don't have many friends. I don’t think you can say that about all autistic people!

OP it starts when you want it. And feel the gap.

You’ll find women friends if you want however if you’ve not experience for years with healthy female relationships such as only toxic females, it might take a little while to change. Women friends are the best relationships I’ve had in my life! They are so worth it. But you can’t flirt your way in. You can’t do it with women who aren’t into women friends, only competition.

But it’s so worth it. One good woman friend is GOLD.